


Christmas Mystery

by jane_x80



Category: NCIS
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Presents, Gen, Mystery, Paranormal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-09
Updated: 2017-12-09
Packaged: 2019-02-12 06:31:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12953379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jane_x80/pseuds/jane_x80
Summary: The MCRT return from being away working on a tough case to an uproar, concerning mysterious gifts that have been left in the Holiday Nook for Tony, Bishop and McGee.ForDay 8 of the Happy Holidays Challenge on LiveJournal, the theme is Wonder.





	Christmas Mystery

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Red_Pink_Dots](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Pink_Dots/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Art for Christmas Mystery](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12933864) by [Red_Pink_Dots](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Pink_Dots/pseuds/Red_Pink_Dots). 



> This is the third of the stories that [Red_Pink_Dots](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Pink_Dots/pseuds/Red_Pink_Dots) and I worked together to create. Another of the artwork prompts, as RPD showed me the pictures and we discussed the plot and voila, another new story! Seriously, I wouldn't have written a story for this theme if not for RPD and her inspirational work!

[](https://i.imgur.com/PkuoMpy.png)

It was a few days before Christmas, and a corner of the squad room had surprisingly been dedicated to all things holiday – a beautifully decorated Christmas tree, a menorah, and for Kwanzaa, a mkeka, the kinara and candles, the unity cup and all of the other Kwanzaa accoutrements were on display. But presents and gift giving was now to be kept private and not anything organized. A few years ago, a Secret Santa gift exchange had gone awry and at the threat of a lawsuit, HR had decreed that there would no longer be a Secret Santa gift exchange allowed, and in fact, all gift giving done by employees of NCIS to each other should be done in private and kept as quiet as possible, even to the point of keeping it out of NCIS premises if at all possible.

But that morning, when Tony stumbled into the office after having caught a couple of hours sleep in the car on the way back from their crime scene in Norfolk, the office was in an uproar. Gibbs, Tony and the entire MCRT had been in Norfolk for the past few days and had been heads down on the case. Now that the thing had been solved and they were returning to complete the paperwork and tie up all the loose ends – the devil was in the details after all – they were caught unawares and completely surprised by HR breathing down their necks. Literally. The HR guy was standing right there, catching them practically coming right off the elevator on to the squad room floor. And the man was glaring at them.

“What’s going on?” Tony straightened to his full height, wishing that Gibbs hadn’t gone for coffee instead of coming in with him, McGee and Bishop, who were just standing there staring at the HR man and not saying anything, thank you very much, leaving Tony to be their spokesperson.

“Why are there presents for you under the Christmas tree?” the HR man demanded.

“What?” Tony frowned. “Look, we just got back from Norfolk. We’ve been there for the past seventy two hours straight and this is our first minute back at the Navy Yard. Talk to me like I’ve been awake for the past seventy hours, working a case, and explain things to me slowly. What presents? And what tree? I thought you guys banned all things Christmas last year so we don’t even have a tree this year?”

“The Holiday Nook has a Christmas tree,” the HR man said, and Tony could hear the capital letters in the man’s words.

“OK. I didn’t realize there was a ‘Holiday Nook’,” Tony scratched his head and turned to McGee and Bishop, who both shrugged and shook their heads.

“It’s a non-denominational Holiday Nook that has a Christmas tree, a menorah and a full representation of Kwanzaa,” the man explained.

“Oh, that’s nice!” Bishop’s eyes brightened. “That’s a nice compromise. And festive!”

“That sounds pretty nice,” McGee agreed with Bishop. “When did you put up the Holiday Nook anyway?”

“Two days ago.”

“We’ve been gone for three days straight,” Tony reiterated. “If you guys put up the Holiday nook, then what’s the problem?”

“Yes, well, the problem is that there are presents under the tree now!” the man exclaimed. “And they are for the three of you!”

“We have presents?” McGee brightened up. “Oh, yay! Who are they from?”

“We don’t know!” the HR man said, blowing out a breath in frustration. “Presents are _not_ allowed! Not publicly! This was made very clear to everyone in several memos that started two years ago, and we have repeatedly sent these memos out this year.”

“OK,” Tony said in a conceding tone. “Well, if these gifts are for us, then it stands to reason that we didn’t give them to ourselves. So who are they from?”

“No one has claimed to put them there!” the HR man was practically pulling his hair out.

“Well, _we_ don’t know where they came from,” Tony made a face. “We didn’t even know there was a Holiday Nook.” Tony was careful to say it in such a way that the HR guy currently hyperventilating in his face would hear the capitalization in his words.

The man frowned, although he was slightly appeased by Tony’s tone. Tony’s logic was sound. The entire team had been gone and couldn’t have been responsible for this.

“Did anyone check the security feed?” McGee asked.

The HR man shook his head.

McGee pulled his laptop out of his backpack and began tapping it while Bishop knelt down at the beautifully decorated Christmas tree and began fingering the labels of the three gaily wrapped boxes that were placed underneath it. She started picking up and shaking the boxes.

“Don’t do that!” Tony snapped at her, making her drop the box she was holding. “Until we know they’re safe, we’re not touching them. Step away, Bishop!”

Tony’s voice sang with authority and Bishop stepped away immediately and unquestioningly, holding her hands up, and looking concerned.

“He’s right,” McGee mumbled. “We’ve been burned by unknown things in the mail before. Tony should know. Ah, here we go…” He nudged Tony and they put their heads together to look at the security feed. But according to the feed, the packages appeared as if by magic. One second they weren’t there, and the next they were.

“Whoa!” Bishop’s eyes were wide with wonder, watching as McGee replayed the scene several times.

“Maybe they tampered with the feed,” McGee awkwardly balanced the laptop on one arm while he tapped away with the other hand. He peered at the screen, putting his face close to it for a moment. “Nope. Doesn’t look like the feed was tampered with. Or if it was it’s so sophisticated that I can’t determine how this happened just by eyeballing it like this. I’ll take a closer look at this once we’re settled in and have finished our case reports.”

The HR man who had also watched the feed frowned now. “So, how did the presents get here?”

Everyone looked at each other, shrugging.

“What do we do now?” Bishop asked, eyes still wide and bright as she looked back at the wrapped boxes.

“First of all, someone has to scan and irradiate those puppies,” Tony glared at the HR man. “Do you agree?”

The little man nodded vehemently.

“McGee, call in the troops,” Tony flicked a glance at him.

“On it,” McGee snapped his laptop shut and pulled his cell phone out.

“And then what?” Bishop’s eyes were still hopeful.

Tony turned to HR. “I don’t know. Do you want to confiscate the boxes? If they are deemed safe, I mean? Obviously, if they are unsafe we’ll have them disposed of, as appropriate.”

“They _are_ addressed to us though!” Bishop objected. “If they’ve been scanned and irradiated and pronounced safe, shouldn’t they come to us? Someone obviously went to a lot of trouble to put them there!”

Tony sighed and looked at the HR man.

“Do you not want them?” HR asked.

Tony shrugged. “I really don’t like surprises that come in unknown packages. In my experience, they can be the plague, bombs, or parts of people I know and might pay a ransom to get back safely. Oh god, is Abby here?” he immediately picked up the phone and called Abby, who, thankfully picked up and assured Tony that she was at work, was all right, and had no missing body parts whatsoever.

The gifts were removed by folks in hazmat suits and the MCRT settled back in the bullpen, wearily starting on their neverending task of paperwork. When Gibbs returned, Bishop updated him of the gift situation and he gave an uninterested grunt. That afternoon, the presents were brought back to the team. They had been scanned, irradiated, and Abby had given them the once over and then, apparently, re-wrapped them. She put a box each on Tony’s, McGee’s and Bishop’s desks, and her smile was huge.

“They’re safe. I promise. I vetted them myself,” she assured Tony who looked suspicious.

Bishop was excited, and McGee was pretty psyched himself. Only Tony glared darkly at the little box on his desk.

“Should we wait until Christmas to open it?” Bishops’s tone was almost childlike in wonder.

Tony’s growl rivaled Gibbs’ on his best day.

“Wow, Tony’s so grumpy!” Bishop gave him a questioning look. “Tony, you’re usually the guy who embraces the unexpected!”

“You’re sure nobody will get sick from this?” Tony gestured to the package, which he still had not yet touched.

Abby crossed her heart, “Hope to die, Tony,” she said solemnly.

Tony gave Gibbs a look, and the team lead shrugged and quirked an eyebrow. Tony sighed. “Fine. Let’s open them now.”

“Yay!” Bishop ripped the paper open in excitement, and cooed happily. “Oh man! Look at this scarf! Wasn’t I just telling you I wanted this scarf, Abby?”

Tony glanced at it. “Hermes,” he pronounced. “This season. Very nice. Expensive.”

“Pretty!” Bishop sighed.

McGee opened his gift and whooped. “It’s the new Apple watch! It’s what I told Delilah I wanted!”

Tony rolled his eyes and glared at his little package suspiciously.

“Open it!” Abby clapped her hands.

“You didn’t do this, did you Abs?” Tony asked her.

Abby shook her head. “No! But I know what’s in it and I’m excited for you!”

Tony sighed and tore into his gift. He opened the box, gasped and stared at his gift. It was a framed picture of him with his mother when he was a child, taken the year before she died. Amazingly, he wasn’t dressed in one of those hated sailor suits. His mother was all dressed up as if she were headed out to a party, and he was in his pajamas, sitting in her lap, her arms around him. It wasn’t a posed photo or a professional portrait. His nanny had probably taken this one, a candid shot. He barely even remembered the picture and the nanny, but he could still remember feeling his mother’s arms around him. Just yesterday he’d thought to himself how much he wanted more tangible mementos of his mother. He’d thought his father had destroyed practically all of the photos and negatives of his mother in one major snit after her death, and if he hadn’t gotten them all, then stepmother number one or number two had finished the job. And here it was now, a photo of him and his mother that he barely even remembered. A wish fulfilled, but one he hadn’t even mentioned to anyone. He stared at the picture for a long time, taking in his mother’s lovely face, and hair, caressing her cheek, the deep dimple in it caused by her faint smile, with his index finger. He’d forgotten that he’d inherited her dimples as well as her green eyes. He closed his eyes and sighed, practically feeling her arms around him again before he stood and wordlessly headed straight for the men’s room, leaving the frame on his desk.

“What is it?” Bishop asked.

“It’s a picture of him and his mom,” Abby said softly.

“What?” McGee came bounding over, distracted from playing with his new gift. “Who would be able to get a picture of Tony and his mother from way back then?” he asked, now sounding suspicious too.

“I don’t know, but it’s a miracle, right?” Abby’s eyes were wide, and her tone steeped with wonder.

Gibbs came over and took a look at the picture. “Did you dust for prints?” he asked Abby.

Abby nodded. “Clean, Bossman. No prints. No DNA. Gift tags look generically printed. I tested everything – the gifts themselves, the boxes, both sides of the wrapping papers, everything.”

“What a mystery!” Bishop exclaimed.

“Figure out how the presents got under the tree,” Gibbs growled to his team. “Find out who has access to the DiNozzos.”

“On it!” all three snapped to and hurried back to their desks, while Gibbs went to the men’s room to check on his Senior Field Agent. They carried on as usual, and McGee, Bishop and Abby started investigating the mysterious arrival of the gifts that had been left for them under the tree. At the end of the day, they were no closer to solving the case – it didn’t look as if the security feed had been tampered with and they were at a dead end as to who could have even had this old photo of Tony and his mom. For all intents and purposes, it seemed as if the gifts had just popped into existence under the tree.

Tony was tight lipped and stressed for the rest of the day, although he shoved the frame into his backpack to take home before he left for the day.

The next morning, they arrived at work to find the squad room in another uproar, and several HR representatives hanging around waiting for them to arrive. Apparently more presents had been left overnight. And again, only for the three of them.

Tony groaned. “What the fuck?” he growled.

“We must have been _really_ good this year, Tony!” Bishop grinned.

“Check the security feed again, McGee!” Tony ordered.

Another look at the security feed showed the exact same thing as the previous night. One second there was nothing under the tree, the next, three gifts appeared. And it was at the exact same time as the previous night as well – 04:46:52. At 04:46:51 nothing was under the tree. One second later, three brightly wrapped boxes were there. The gifts were taken away to be scanned, irradiated, and thoroughly checked over, and again like the previous day, a cheerful Abby came to deliver the presents to the three members of the MCRT.

“All clear, and like yesterday, no fingerprints, no DNA, no trace evidence. They’re all clean. Squeaky clean,” Abby told them. “I re-wrapped everything to preserve the surprise for you.”

Bishop eagerly tore into her present, finding a small, heart-shaped pendant set with a ruby. “Ohhhh,” she sighed. “I wanted one just like this when I was twelve! And I never got one!”

McGee’s gift was a classic Atari game console which apparently, he had wanted when he was twelve.

Tony stared at his unopened present, scowling fiercely.

“What did you want when you were twelve, Tony?” McGee asked anxiously.

Tony ignored the question and carefully opened his gift. Inside was a snowglobe, and inside it the model of a house, surrounded by big trees. Tony stared at the snowglobe for a long moment, eyes wide, hand covering his mouth before pushed the gift away, stood, grabbed his badge and gun and ran for the stairs, not even stopping to grab his coat, even though it was cold and wintery outside.

“What just happened?” Bishop asked.

“He probably just wanted to go home for Christmas when he was twelve,” Gibbs said, his voice sad, and he took the snowglobe off Tony’s desk, shaking it and watching as tiny little snowflakes floated down, dusting the house and the trees. “Senior sent him to boarding school that year. I would bet that this was their house when he was twelve, when he was sent away to school. And his father probably didn’t let him come home for Christmas. Or forgot about him. One of those.”

“Oh,” Bishop’s face fell.

“Who’s giving you the things you wanted when you were children?” Abby’s eyes were huge. “Who would even _know_ these things about you?”

“We found nothing yesterday,” McGee said glumly.

“Yesterday we all got things we wanted for Christmas this year. Today it’s stuff we wanted when we were twelve,” Bishop said thoughtfully. “You think we’ll get something tomorrow, too?”

“I’m going to be here and wait for it,” McGee declared.

“Me, too,” Bishop agreed.

“I can’t,” Abby said regretfully. “I promised the nuns I’d help out and do a sleepover with some underprivileged kids tonight.”

“I’m sure DiNozzo will be here, too,” Gibbs said, still fingering the snowglobe.

Tony returned to the bullpen, pale and quiet, and the team worked as usual. They agreed that they would meet up at 0400 and wait for the mysterious gift giver, Bishop, McGee and Tony. Even though Tony had reacted badly to his gift and refused to say a word about it, he still took it home. He carefully repacked it in the box, along with the bubble wrap, and hand carried it with him instead of stuffing it carelessly in his backpack.

At 0400 sharp the next morning, McGee, Bishop and Tony met in the lobby and plotted their strategy. McGee pulled the live security feed up and confirmed that there was nothing under the tree. Bishop ran up and got eyes on the Holiday Nook, and returned, confirming again that there were no gifts under the tree.

“I can’t believe I got that heart pendant yesterday,” Bishop sighed softly. “I really wanted it and it was the year my brother Cal broke his leg, and my other brother started his freshman year of college that fall, and so money was tight. I didn’t get the pendant.”

“My father refused to buy me the Atari because I’d taken apart the computer he bought me the previous Christmas,” McGee said sheepishly. “He didn’t think he should buy me something I would ruin and take apart. I got sweaters that year. And socks.”

“I hope you unravelled them to spite your father,” Tony grinned.

McGee shrugged and rolled his eyes. “What about the snowglobe, Tony?” he asked. “Gibbs thought maybe it was the house you grew up in.”

Tony shrugged, pursing his lips, not really wanting to talk about it. “The model is incredibly accurate. It’s not just our old house, but it had all of the trees the way they were when I was little. My favorite tree was there, the one I used to climb up and hide in.”

Bishop squeezed his hand. “Someone went to a lot of trouble for us.”

“And we’ll catch them red handed today,” McGee said, determinedly, eyes on the security feed.

At the appointed time, the three teammates were on the elevator, McGee still keeping his eyes on the security feed on his laptop while Tony and Bishop craned their necks around the doorway, trying to silently observe the Holiday Nook. Tony swore he could hear the Carol of the Bells going at the split second between 04:46:51 and 04:46:52, and McGee yelled “They’re here! They just magically appeared!”

Tony and Bishop tore out of the elevator, rushing to the Holiday Nook. Sure enough. There were three presents. And they had both been keeping their eyes peeled. No one had come or gone. No one. And McGee had been watching the security feed and seen nothing either. The gifts had blinked into existence. Just like that.

They stared at each other in wonder.

“What the ever living fuck just happened?” Tony muttered softly.

And then they all three swore that they heard echoes of laughter, ho ho ho-ing away, the sound of bells ringing and hoofs click-clacking, and that infernal carol coming from some indeterminate point. They all spun around, trying to locate the noise or the source of the noise, but there was nothing. Just the usual bright orange walls of the squad room.

“What the hell are we going to tell HR?” Tony whined.

“We have to wait for people to get in to scan and irradiate these things now, don’t we?” McGee sighed and pouted.

Tony nodded.

“C’mon,” Bishop linked arms with both Tony and McGee. “I’ll buy you guys breakfast while we wait. I wonder what Santa brought us for Christmas today?”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope y'all liked this one.
> 
> I just can't say enough about Red_Pink_Dots, and her amazing artwork, not to mention how much fun we have working together! :D. Merci beaucoup again for the inspiration, encouragement, and collaboration, ma chere amie! You are always my Elton! *bisous*
> 
> The song that helped me write this story is [Carol of the Bells](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSUFzC6_fp8) as performed by Pentatonix. (Yes, I'm on a bit of a PTX kick!)
> 
> And for the record, after this, I think that the rest of the Holiday challenge stories that I/we have planned should be Tony/Gibbs ones ;)
> 
> <3  
> -j  
> xoxo

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Art for Christmas Mystery](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12933864) by [Red_Pink_Dots](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Pink_Dots/pseuds/Red_Pink_Dots)




End file.
